1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the conditioning and drilling of oil or gas formations for the application of the various stimulating fluids to increase oil or gas production.
2. Prior Art
It is becoming more important to increase the recoverable oil or gas from an oil or gas formation. Various methods have been used to condition an oil or gas formation to increase production. They consist of drilling straight horizontal or angle holes from a vertical well hole into an oil or gas formation. These methods have not been completely successful in covering the area around a vertical well hole because to be able to drill long distances from a vertical well hole large diameter holes have to be drilled. Only about four large diameter holes can be drilled from one point in a well hole. This leaves at least four large areas around a well hole in which little or no stimulating fluids can be applied. Drilling small straight horizontal holes around a point in a well hole can cover the area around the well hole well, but small straight horizontal holes can not be drilled far enough into the oil or gas formation for sufficient stimulation of the oil or gas formation.
My oil or gas formation conditioning process and well systems would greatly increase the production of oil or gas and would provide the following advantages over present methods and systems.
A horizontal hole drilled from a vertical well hole that spirals out into an oil or gas formation and around the vertical well hole would provide a means of stimulating the oil or gas formation all the way around the vertical well hole at a desired distance from the vertical well hole. One horizontal outward spiralling hole drilled from a vertical well hole could provide a way of stimulating more area around the vertical well hole than four straight horizontal holes drilled at the same depth from a vertical well hole as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 1,816,260 because of the increasing distance between the straight horizontal holes as their length increases from the vertical well hole. This increasing distance between the four straight horizontal holes leaves four large areas around the vertical well hole that could not be adequately stimulated from the four straight horizontal holes. A horizontal outward spiralling hole around a vertical well hole would provide a way to provide a horizontal drive to push oil or gas to the vertical well hole while four straight horizontal holes drilled from a vertical well hole could only provide a drainage function to the vertical well hole and not a horizontal drive function.
A horizontal outward spiralling hole would not have the channelling problems of four straight horizontal holes which are drilled from the same point in a vertical well hole because of their close proximity near the vertical well hole. A horizontal outward spiralling hole drilled from and around a vertical well hole would be a greater improvement for conditioning the formation around a vertical well hole than the method of trying to horizontally hydraulic fracture around a vertical well hole because to hydraulic horizontal fracture an oil or gas formation depends on the type of oil or gas formation. Most oil or gas formation tend to vertically fracture when fractured with hydraulic fracturing methods. Also if a horizontal fracture was established around a vertical well hole it would extend less than a hundred feet into the formation whereas a horizontal outward spiralling hole would not be limited by the type of oil or gas formation and could be drilled at much greater distances than a hundred feet from the vertical well hole. A horizontal outward spiralling hole drilled from and around a vertical well hole into the bottom part of an oil or gas formation could provide a much greater distribution of water into the oil or gas formation for vertical flooding than the direct injection method of U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,711 because of the varying resistance to direct injected water flow in any oil or gas formation and the greater distance a horizontal outward spiralling hole could place water from a vertical well hole.
A horizontal inward spiralling hole drilled from one vertical well hole into an oil or gas formation could stimulate a much larger area of an oil or gas formation than a well system using two vertical well holes each with a straight horizontal hole which is drilled in association with the straight horizontal hole from the other vertical well hole as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,335 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,158 because a horizontal inward spiralling hole can be drilled with over twice the length of a straight horizontal hole in a given horizontal plane. A horizontal inward spiralling hole can be drilled to stimulate a much wider horizontal area from a vertical well hole than a straight horizontal hole because of the directional limitations of a straight horizontal hole. An inward spiralling hole drilled from a vertical well hole which is drilled from a platform offshore in deep water would provide a better means for conditioning an oil or gas formation for stimulation than the well system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,335 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,158 because of the economic impractibility of drilling the vertical well holes or mine shafts as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,335 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,158 in an oil or gas formation located off shore in deep water. A horizontal inward spiralling hole drilled from vertical well hole that spirals out into an oil or gas formation and around one or more vertical production wells could provide a much better horizontal drive to the vertical production wells than several vertical injection wells drilled around the vertical production wells because of the uniform drive that can be established from the horizontal inward spiralling hole.
A spiralling coiling hole drilled from a vertical well hole into an oil or gas formation of great vertical thickness that spirals out and coils down through the oil or gas formation around the vertical well hole could provide a way to stimulate more area at a determined distance around the vertical well hole than a series of four straight horizontal holes drilled at the same point at different depths in a vertical well hole as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,816,260 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,335 that radiate out into the oil or gas because of the distance between the ends of the four straight horizontal holes. A spiralling coiling hole could provide a way to establish a horizontal drive to a vertical well hole in an oil or gas formation with great vertical thickness while straight horizontal holes drilled from the vertical well hole could not provide a horizontal drive to the vertical well hole.